Electric fireless cooker



P. 1. TOWNSEND. ELECTRBC FIRELESS COOKER. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1920 Patented May16,1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY ELF P. J. TOWNSEND. ELECTRIC FIRELESS COOKER. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25. I920. I I 1,416,527. Patented May 16,1922.

2 SHEETS-SH EET 2.

Z c]: .Towmse/id g/4 & BY W W ATTORNEY PERGIVAL J. TOWNSEND, or nfnnwoon CITY, (is-mom.

ELECTRIC FIREIL-ESS COGKER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 1 6, 1922,

, Application filed May 25, 1920. Serial No. 384,132;

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known thatl, PnnoivAL J. Town- SEND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Redwood City, inthe'county of San v Mateoand State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric Fireless Cookers, of which the 't'ollowing'is a specification.

This invention relates to cooking devices and has for its object the provision ota fire less cooker in which the necessary initial heat is provided by an electric heatingcoil embedded within a slab of soapstone, this heating member being disposed upon a base rising from which and detachably engaged upon which is hood formed to, retain heat, the construction of the device being such that after the slab of soapstone;isthoroughl heated by the resistance coil therein, the current may be cut off and theheat stored within the slab will be suflicient to complete the cooking; i i p An important and more specificobjectis the provision of a device o't'this character which includes av base uponwhich the heatingcoil and thehood are disposed, this base being peculiarly constructed whereby water of condensation forming upon the inner surface of the walls of the hood may run down and be retained within circumferential channeland therebytorm a seal between the hood and the base. V y V Another object is the provision of a device o t'this character in which the hood is carried by a flexible member trained over suitable-pulleys and. having ,a counterbalancing Weight whereby the hood maybe very quickly and easily lifted when desired to permit inspection; of the articles being cooked or to permit their removal. I

An additional obyect 1s the provlsionoii a device of this character which will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture, highly efficient and economical iniuse, durable in service, and a general improvement in the art. v i

\Vith the above and other objects and advantages in view the invention consists in the details of construction to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device,

Figure 2 is a front elevation,

, tl' rough, and

Figure 3 longitudinal sectional View therethrough, showing the. hood in raised position,

Figure 4: member,v

' Figure 5 is a detail a top plan Vii-3W of theheater sectional view there- Figure 6 isa bottom plan view. k Referring more particularly to. the dr w ings, I have shown my device as comprising a baselO which is termed preferably of sheet metal and=holl'ow, the interior being packed with any suitable heat insulatingmaterial.

This base is preferably circular shape and 1 has its outer edge reduced in thickness, shown at 11, whereby the central portion will extend upwardly and be disposed me higher plane than the portion 11. It will be understood that this base may besecured upon or set upon a table or shelf, thoughin the drawings I have shown it as; supported by a bracket 12 extending from a vertical wall 18.

Disposed upon the base 10 is a hood designated broadly by the numeral 14 and this hood is formed of outer and inner metallic shells 15 and 16 spaced apart andhavingthe space therebetween filled with a suitable heat insulating packing 17. The lower or open end of this hood seats upon the reduced portion 11 of the base 10, as clearly shown, and the effect is such as to provide agcircumterentialj channel between the inner perigihery of the hood and thegouter periphery o the central or thicker portion of the base. This channel is designated by the numeral 18. It will be observed that formed at the outer edge otthe reduced portion 11 is an upstanding flange 19 which extends outperiphery ot'th'ehood. I

Secured upon the upper end of the hood isian eye 20 with which is connected one end ofa flexible member 21 which is trained wardly of and engages against the outer upper surface cut, as clearly shown in Figure 4, to provide a plurality of channels 28 which connect or communicate, as shown. Disposed within these channels is a heating coil 29 formed of wire of suitable resistance arranged in serpentine form so as to cover the maximum area of the surface of the slab. The ends of the coil pass through holes 30 in the slab and then extend along grooves 31 in the underside thereof and are connected with suitable binding screws 32 to which feed wires from any suitable source of current may be connected. If found advisable, and it probably will be, the channels 28 in the slab may be filled with any suitable paste or cement in order to protect the coil 29.

In the use of the device the heater 26 is disposed upon. the top of the base 1.0 and the articles of food to be cooked are placed upon the heater and if they are of a moist nature it is obvious that they should be placed in a suitable receptacle. y using receptacles of the clover-leaf type it will be obvious that several different articles may be cooked at the same time. After the receptacle containing food or other material is placed upon the heater, the hood 14L is lowered and current is turned on through the coil 29. The heat generated by this coil will quickly heat the slab 27 and as soon as the same is thoroughly heated the current may be out off and the heat continuing to emanate from the slab will serve to cook the material in exactly the same manner as cooking carried on in a tireless cooker, it being quite apparent that my double walled hood will effectually retain the heat given off by the slab. In case articles are to be baked, it is quite evident that they may be placed directly upon the slab and the receptacle omitted, if desired.

lVhen it is desired to cook articles more rapidly it is obvious that the current need not be cut off and that the device may be then used simply as an electric cooker, either with or without the hood, as preferred.

It will be noted that the connection or joint between. the hood 14 and base 10 is an important feature of my construction. When any food is cooked in this device or in any similar device, it is well known that a certain amount of steam will condense upon the inner surface of the hood and will consequently trickle down. By my construction in which I reduce the thickness of the outer portion of the base and leave the slight upstanding flange 19 at the periphery thereof, I prevent this condensed steam which trickles down from getting onto the central portion of the base or the heater thereon. In my construction the circumferential channel 18 receives this trickle of condensation and the flange 19 retains a certain amount of this water so as to form a water seal which provides a very effective seal for preventing leakage of heat between the hood and the base. At the same time it will be noted that the flange 19 is of less height than the central portion of the base so that the water of condensation may overflow and escape before it could back up a sufficient extent to injure the heating coil upon the base.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is of course to be understood that I reserve the right to make such changes in the form, construction, and arrangement of parts as will not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A device of the character de rribed comprising a base, heating means upon said base, and a removable hood seating upon the base and formed as a heat retaining member, the outer portion of said base being circuniferentially recessed to provide a seat for the lower end of the hood, and the extreme periphery of the base having an upwardly ex-- tending flange of less height than the central portion of the base and disposed outwardly of the hood.

2. A device of the character described comprising a supporting bracket, an upwardly extending tubular guide associated therewith, a roller carried by the upper end of said guide, a base mounted upon said bracket, a hood seating upon said base, heating means upon said base, a flexible member connected with said hood, trained about said roller, extending through said tubular guide. and a counter-balancing weight on the lower end of said flexible member.

In testimon whereof I aflix my signature.

PE CIVAL J. IOWNSEND. 

